U.S. airstrikes bring early gains in Iraq

Displaced Iraqi boys from the Yazidi community wait at the entrance of the camp of Bajid Kandala as they look for their family members who they became separated from during their escape, at Feeshkhabour town near the Syria-Iraq border, in Iraq on Saturday.(Photo: Khalid Mohammed, AP)

WASHINGTON — A series of U.S. airstrikes Sunday against militants in Iraq appeared to back up President Obama's promise of targeted attacks that could continue for months.

U.S. Central Command reported Sunday that pilots and drones hit specific, small assets of the Islamic State forces near Irbil, destroying three vehicles and damaging two others.

And Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights spokesman Kamil Amin told CNN that up to 20,000 Yazidi Iraqis, who have been targeted by the militants, had been rescued and taken to safety near the Syrian border. However, thousands remain trapped on a mountain, scrambling for food and water dropped by U.S. airlifts.

Obama had said Saturday that he would commit no ground troops, but the airstrikes may be a prolonged campaign. "I don't think we're going to solve this problem in weeks," he said. "I'm not going to give a particular timetable, because, as I've said from the start, wherever and whenever U.S. personnel and facilities are threatened, it's my obligation, my responsibility as commander in chief to make sure they are protected."

The U.S. government will continue to push for an inclusive Iraqi government capable of handling the situation itself, the president said, but on Sunday, Iraq's embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki added to the leadership crisis by saying he will not resign and openly split with Iraq's new president.

A parliament session scheduled for Monday to discuss who might lead the next Iraqi government was postponed until Aug. 19. Al-Maliki, in a surprise televised speech, said he will file a legal complaint against the new president, Fouad Massoum, for committing "a clear constitutional violation."

Al-Maliki, whose Shiite-dominated bloc won the most seats in April elections, accused Massoum of neglecting to name a prime minister from the country's largest parliamentary faction by Sunday's deadline. Al-Maliki is seeking a third term.

The U.S. State Department said Sunday it "fully supports" the new Iraqi president.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement the U.S. supports the process to select a prime minister "by building a national consensus and governing in an inclusive manner." She said the U.S. rejects any effort to use coercion or manipulation in the process of choosing a new Iraqi leader.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Shirko Fatih, a senior Kurdish military official, said Sunday that the airstrikes have been effective and his troops have gained control of two towns in northern Iraq that the militants had captured. Taking Makhmour and al-Gweir back from the Islamic State marked the Kurdish forces' first victory in the battle, which began in June when the militants seized Mosul.

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government that controls the region attacked by the militants, said the Kurdish troops need more firepower.

"We are not asking our friends to send their sons to fight on our behalf," Barzani said. "What we are asking our friends is to provide us support and to cooperate with us in providing us with heavy weapons that we are able to fight this terrorist group."

Obama has couched the airstrikes as a "humanitarian effort" because tens of thousands of Yazidis fled northern Iraq as Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), began forcing people to convert to Islam or be killed, targeting Christians and Shiite Muslims as well.

The State Department warned against all but essential travel to Iraq, and began moving personnel from the Irbil and Baghdad embassies to embassies in Basrah, Iraq, and Amman, Jordan, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Politicians, generals and ambassadors hit the talk shows Sunday morning to debate whether the president was doing enough.

Retired Army general Carter Ham said it looks as though the strikes are having an impact.

(Photo: Hasan Jamali, AP)

"I think the initial strikes are already having some effects," Ham told ABC's Martha Raddatz on Sunday. "It seems to have at least given pause to the Islamic extremists."

However, Ham said the situation in Iraq is difficult because the Iraqi army has no government to which it can be loyal, leading to a disjointed offensive against the Islamic State. Ham added that he agreed with Obama that it's up to the Iraqi government to bring stability to Iraq.

Former secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about the region's issues in an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, saying that she had wanted to arm the Syrian rebels, while the president did not. Clinton said that not creating a "credible fighting force" left a vacuum, adding that the "jihadists" have filled that vacuum.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the situation is a threat to national security, and that the Islamic State is continuing to make gains. He called the airstrikes "ineffective."

"I would be launching airstrikes not only in Iraq, but in Syria" against the Islamic State, he told CNN's Candy Crowley. "There is no policy, so there is no strategy, and therefore, things are going very, very badly."

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said he is concerned about the extremist groups, but that it's important to work toward a representative government in Iraq, rather than try to solve the problem militarily.

"We will not become the Iraqi Air Force," he told Crowley. "I don't think we can take out (the Islamic State) from a military point of view from the use of our airstrikes."